Remotly connecting to an web forms application that uses asp.net routing?

[ianoble]

I've been developing a asp.net/c# web application that uses .net routing with Visual Studio 2008. The project is setup to use http://localhost:17315 as the server path. I'm trying to figure out a way for a co-worker to connect to my local project from their system. When I setup the project as a virtual directory in IIS (5.1) the .net routing doesn't work correctly and I get a 404 error (http://localhost/home).

Is there anyway for a user on our local network to connect to my application remotely with my current configuration? I know they can't connect to the Visual Studio Development Server, but I would think they should be able to connect if the application is setup in IIS. Maybe IIS6+ is needed for this?

Thank you for your help!

- Ian

[tlhintoq]

Localhost automatically is mapped to 127.0.0.1, which is an internal address mapped to your own machine, regardless of the IP address assigned as an external address.

Is there any real reason you can't change it to
\\ianoblePC:173 15
So that it always works (within your local network) regardless of your IP address?

[Frinavale]

Just a little bit more information: for tlhintoq's suggestion to work your network is going to need to be able to resolve the computer name that is hosting the web application.

-Frinny

[ianoble]

In the past I change my host file to resolve my local system to http://localfb instead of localhost, but for this project it doesn't seem to like either.

From what I've read, if I use the Visual Studio Development Server I can't have any remote connections. So I was hoping there was a way to setup the project in IIS so .net routing still works and it would be available to remote users in my network.

[Frinavale]

Cassini is just a tool to help you debug your application.
Sometimes it's not even accurate to how a web server actually behaves/works.

I recommend that you publish your web application to an actual IIS hosted website so that people can connect IIS website and see what you have published.

Or you could try working like how I work, I move the project to the folder that is being used to host the website on IIS and I work from there. I don't like Cassini much and unless I need to step through server-side code to debug something I avoid running it.

-Frinny

[ianoble]

Unfortunately I don't have location to host my development project at this time. All the work is being done locally.

If there isn't a way to browse the web app remotely I might have to come up with another method of .net routing...which would be a bummer.

[Frinavale]

What operating system are you using for development?

If it's a "pro" version of any Windows operating system then you should be able to install IIS onto your development machine.

-Frinny

[ianoble]

Yep, I using IIS 5.1 at the moment on XP Pro sp3. But running the app as a standard virtual directory doesn't work (404 error), but running the app through Visual Studio works just fine. The only difference in the url is the port specification.

[Frinavale]

Oh, well, you should have said you have a 404 error ! (oh you did...hehe) :)
There could be a number of reasons for this but I suspect that it's probably because you don't have asp.net installed properly.

Try going to http://locahost/
Does the default "welcome to IIS" page come up or do you see a 404 error?

[Frinavale]

If you don't see the default IIS page then follow the instructions in this article that outlines how to install ASP.NET...Visual Studio 2003 HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error but instead of moving to the "C:\Windows\Mic rosoft.NET\Fram ework\v1.1.4322 " folder you're going to want to move to the "C:\WINDOWS\Mic rosoft.NET\Fram ework\v2.0.5072 7" folder instead since you application targets the .NET Framework version 3+

-Frinny

[ianoble]

When I have the default web site setup to c:\inetpub\wwwr oot and I pull up http://localhost I get:

"Directory Listing Denied"

I'll look into the article you sent over and see where that gets me.

Thank you!!

[ianoble]

After reinstalling the asp.net account from the article, I'm still getting "Directory Listing Denied" when going to http://localhost

Running my app with http://localhost/Prototype redirects to http://localhost/Prototype/home/, which is a 404 error. http://localhost:17315 works just fine, though.

It appears that it won't let me to use .net routing how I have it setup, unless I go through Visual Studio.

So, still no luck. :(

[Frinavale]

I'm not sure that you will be able to have the flexibility to make the changes with IIS 5...it's pretty limited....but you should go through the properties for your site in the IIS Snap-In (IIS Manager I think it's called). Go through all the tabs in the site and see if there's any settings that you can change to achieve what you want.

:)

-Frinny

[ianoble]

I was afraid of that. Is there anyway to get IIS6+ installed on my XP machine?

[Frinavale]

Nope, IIS is part of the Operating System.

• IIS 5 comes with XP Pro
• IIS 6 comes with Server 2003
• IIS 7 comes with Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008

You would have to install a new operating system.

-Frinny